Adapting courses and offerings, changing admissions and enrollment criteria and establishing satellite campuses on the U.S. mainland helped universities in Puerto Rico prevail despite a financial crisis, natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research published Tuesday.
A new report by Excelencia in Education, a think tank focused on Latino college completion, focused on how five higher education institutions in the U.S. territory — three public universities and two private nonprofit institutions — grappled with declining student enrollment, as well as difficulties retaining and graduating students, while enduring fiscal and budget constraints, among other challenges.
Higher education institutions in Puerto Rico have faced the compounding impacts of multiple challenges over the past several years.
In 2016, Puerto Rico embarked on a bankruptcy-like process under the Obama-era Promesa law, which created the federal fiscal board that is responsible for restructuring the island’s $72 billion public debt. It has resulted in tough austerity measures, including budget cuts for Puerto Rico’s public university system.
The precarious financial situation became more complicated by devastating hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, as well as a series of destructive earthquakes early in 2020, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The events contributed to the outmigration of hundreds of thousands of young Puerto Rican people, creating an increasingly older residential population.
The factors have combined to force colleges and universities on the island to find ways to adapt.
To battle declining enrollment, some institutions expanded and revised their program offerings. Others established satellite campuses or programs on the mainland to serve the Puerto Rican diaspora and the broader Latino community. Some colleges even modified their admissions criteria to reflect the challenges of the pandemic, according to the report. They also hosted open houses,…
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